Drink driver caught speeding at 146mph on M4

Billy James Rich was caught drink driving whilst speeding at nearly 150mph on the M4. 

Mr Rich, from Highworth, was behind the wheel of a black BMW in the early hours of Wednesday when he overtook an unmarked police car at speed on the A350.

After heading on to the motorway, he was clocked doing 146mph (235km/h) by officers before being pulled over near Chippenham.

The 23-year-old pleaded guilty to drink driving and speeding

During a hearing at Swindon Magistrates' Court he was fined £692 and disqualified from driving for 22 months.

PC Andy Lee said: "His actions put himself, other drivers and road users in danger."

Source tispol.org

NEW Apple Software Feature ‘do not disturb while driving’

Apple has announced that its next iPhone software update will feature a ‘do not disturb while driving’ mode.

The iOS 11 update due out later this year, will provide all iPhones with the function, which is designed to address the dangers associated with smartphones and distraction.

The software will be able to sense when a person is driving, and when activated will block notifications from calls and texts as well as social media. The user won't even be able to access the phone’s homescreen to open apps.

The driver will be able to set a personalised automatic text response to notify anyone attempting to make contact that they’re currently behind the wheel.

The new feature will assume a person is driving if their phone is connected to the car via Bluetooth. Alternatively, it will use a phone's WiFi antenna to sense when it’s moving at car speeds.

Passengers will be able to override the feature by turning on the screen with the iPhone power button and then clicking on a button marked ‘I'm not driving’.

Once the update has taken place, Apple will prompt drivers to use the new feature on the first occasion that they drive with an iOS 11-powered iPhone.


The move has been welcomed by the RAC, who are encouraging motorists through their campaign  #BePhoneSmart to make a personal pledge to not use their handheld phone while driving.

It has also been welcomed by Brake, who describes mobile phone use behind the wheel as a 'growing menace'.

Source: roadsafetygb

Drivers could be fined for moving out of the way to let an ambulance through

MOTORISTS who enter a bus lane or go through a red light to move out of the way to let an ambulance or police car through could be slapped with a fine.

The Highway Code states: “You should look and listen for ambulances, fire engines, police, doctors or other emergency vehicles using flashing blue, red or green lights and sirens, or flashing headlights, or traffic officer and incident support vehicles using flashing amber lights.”

The highway code also states that you should not panic and consider the route of the vehicle to take appropriate action. If you need to pull over, it suggests stopping before the brow of a hill, a bend or a narrow section of road.

It adds: “Do not endanger yourself, other road users or pedestrians and avoid mounting the kerb.

“Do not brake harshly on approach to a junction or roundabout, as a following vehicle may not have the same view as you.”

Blue Light Aware, is a campaign launched by GEM Motoring Assist, informs drivers on how best to help the emergency services.

Its website states: “Of course, there will be times when there simply is no room for an emergency service vehicle to get past, or perhaps its crew are activated by their control room to respond to an emergency while they are waiting with everyone else at the traffic lights.

“On these occasions, they know that other motorists are not allowed to ‘jump’ the red light, and the emergency vehicle would ideally not activate its sirens and lights until it was safe for the vehicle in front to cross the solid white line at the junction.

“On the (hopefully) rare occasions that a blue light vehicle, in ’emergency mode’, is sitting behind another vehicle at a red traffic light, it’s important to appreciate that it would be both very dangerous and illegal for the other vehicle to move across the solid white line.

“The exception to this is that a uniformed police officer can direct a motorist through a red traffic signal.”

In order to get advanced warnings about approaching emergency vehicles there is a product called Blu Eye which can alert you to their presence to give you more time to plan how you will move safely out of the way

Source thesun

If Your Licence Plate Is Dirty You Can Be Fined £1000

Did you know that if your licence plate is too dirty to be read, you could get a fine of £1,000 as it's considered a driving offence.

A DVLA spokesman told The Sun: "There is a specific offence under the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 of obscuring or allowing a registration mark to be not easily distinguishable."

All registration numbers must be displayed clearly and correctly on the number plate - this helps enforcement agencies and members of the public to correctly identify a vehicle to assist road safety and traffic enforcement.

If police person spots a car with an obscured licence plate you could be hit with a £50 fine immediately and then taken to court and further fined another £1,000. Quite a bit more than a car wash or taking the effort to get the bucket out at home!

Other things that are illegal but you might not realise!

using an Apple Watch while you're driving is the same as using a mobile phone (because you can make calls and check messages). It could put you in prison for up to two years! (same penalties as for using a hand-held mobile phone).

Everyone of course knows that if they want to answer a call on their phone and don't have hands-free then they have to pull over. However did you know if you don't turn off the engine while on the phone, you can still get charged!

Also other things that you need your hands for that you might be tempted to do whilst stuck in traffic including the following carry a fine of £100 and three points! this is because potentially they cause a distraction to the driver, and could be categorised as "careless driving".

• Putting on lipstick in the mirror 
• Eating
• Drinking water (or similar)
• Taking a hand off the wheel to pet your dog
• Handing something to a child in the back

Sources

Lad Bible
The Sun

Motorist gets 99 points after being caught speeding 11 times in less than a month.

A motorist reportedly racked up a whopping 99 points on his driving licence after being caught speeding 11 times on the same bridge in less than a month.

Vasile Ciuca, of Highfield Road in Felixstowe, was banned from driving for six months after magistrates found him guilty in his absence, according to the BBC.

The 20-year-old repeatedly broke the speed limit on Orwell Bridge in Ipswich over a period of 25 days in October and November last year, and was given three points on his licence for each of the 11 times he was caught speeding. the broadcaster reported.

He was then issued a further six points for each occasion after he was found guilty of not telling police officers who was driving the car. Mr Ciuca also received a £660 fine and was ordered to pay £149 in costs, the BBC said.

New sentencing powers have recently come into force aimed at deterring speeding motorists. Drivers who travel at excessively dangerous speeds, including those who exceed 100 mph on motorways, could be fined up to 175 per cent of their weekly income. 

In addition to the new fines, they could also be banned from driving for 56 days and have six points added to their licence.

Source

telegraph.co.uk

UK's top 10 highest earning speed cameras

Ever wondered which cameras earn the most revenue? look no further....  

The following information is based on figures from 2015 (Worked out by Carole Nash using freedom of information request to the UK's largest county police constabularies).  

THE 10 HIGHEST EARNING UK SPEED CAMERAS IN 2015

1. A1, Great Ponton North Bound, Lincolnshire - £606,400

2. M180, West of River Trent, Scunthorpe - £583,500

3. M25, London Orbital junction 17 and 18, Rickmansworth - £538,500

4. M25, London Orbital junction 5 and Clacket Lane Services -£373,300

5. A12, Stratford St Mary Southbound - £305,400

6. M25 London Orbital junction 18 and 17, Rickmansworth - £255,400

7. A22, Eastbourne Road, Halland - £167,100

8. A3, Esher Bypass, Hook - £149,700

9. A14, Bythorn, Cambridgeshire - £121,200

10. A34, Milton, Southbound - £63,600

Source: Carole Nash 

The camera that caught the most people was located near Grantham in Lincolnshire It caught 6,064 speeders during 2015 (average of 19 per day) thats £600,000 in fines over just one year

The fixed camera on the northbound carriageway of the A1 however is certainly not the most lucrative standalone camera today......That's because it's no longer there.

It was replaced by eight average speed cameras erected to monitor the route, which cost £750,000 to install last year, according to the Lincolnshire Echo.

The second most profitable speed camera, according to the research, was further north in Lincolnshire - a section of the M180 close to Scunthorpe caught 5,853 speeders that year, clocking up £585,300 in fines. 

Unsurprisingly, Britain's busiest motorway - the M25 - had three separate locations feature in Britain's 10 highest earning speed cameras on 2015.

All three captured a whopping 12,122 speeders, resulting in £1.2million in collective fines. The trio are between junctions 17 and 18 close to Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, north west of London, in both directions, and betrween junction 5 and Clacket Lane Services, south east of London, in Surrey.

Rebecca Donohue, head of marketing at Carole Nash, said: 'With some speed cameras issuing tickets that amount to well into the hundreds of thousands it's understandable that, at times, motorists feel like they are being taxed again.

'It's really important to remember that such cameras are put in place to reduce accidents and save the lives of motorists and bikers, something which is far more important than any amount of money.

'We wanted to find out which roads are prone to speeding motorists to help raise awareness of the dangers in those areas and encourage bikers and drivers alike to take extra care on these roads.' 

NB Of the 35 forces contacted under the freedom of information act, 20 responded with information about their snap-happiest speed cameras

Source: Mail

Learner driver test interrupted by police over instructor's car

West Midlands Police

A learner driver had not made any minor faults in her test and was on course to pass - until the instructor's uninsured car was stopped by police.

The learner and examiner were pulled over during the driving test in east Birmingham, on Saturday.

West Midlands Police then checked the car and found it also had no MoT. They later seized the car.

The force's road policing unit said the student would have passed the test had it not been interrupted, as no mistakes had been recorded.

The driving examiner and student were taken back to the test centre, where the driving instructor was questioned by police.

The Instructor a 46 year old female admitted knowing the car was not insured but denied knowing the car had no MoT, said police.

Police seized the car and took the driving instructor's badge. She was reported to the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVLA) and will need to provide valid insurance and MoT documents to police at a later date.